I got a field bred Springer (smaller, finer, long tail, higher energy) from the RSPCA last Thurs and she's so happy to have a loving home with lots of walks (and I mean lots) that she will NOT walk to heel.  Admittedly, most of her walks have been running round fields and woods because she's very good about coming back but when I need her to walk on the road, she's so excited that she doesn't differentiate between charging round a field and walking nicely by my side with cars whizzing past.  I am ashamed to say that, last night, when I had to walk her two miles home, rather than take the car, cos she rolled on a fox carcass (and that's another topic to post) - had to go back for car - she wanted to surge ahead and I shortened the extendable lead as much as I could, held one hand behind my back and pulled her back with a "heel" command everytime she lurched forward.  Then called her a good girl.  She will sit in the house by me just using a hand signal but when I wanted her to sit by the road before we crossed it, she just looked at me and I had to enforce the command by tapping her bottom (not pushing it).  So how do I get her to respect me outside the house?  Mind you, she is so hyper first thing that I find her very, very stressful.  She throws herself all over the place and just goes crackers.  I'm almost at my wits end.  Someone help me!  She's 4 years old and used to be in a house with at least two other dogs and kids.  Now she's with me, my partner and my Mum.  I play with her like I would my old Samoyed (died last year) but she's so different and I don't think it's a good idea now to sit on the floor with her -  no-one else does and she doesn't try to lick them - only me!!!

You've probably just discovered why she ended up at the RSPCA! What are you feeding her on? Try to gradually get her on to a complete food with no artificial colourings. preservatives etc... as that can work wonders with dogs that are hyperactive. I'm not 100% sure about this, but maybe a protein level of no more than 21% might help too.

Please be patient with her as it's probably a culture shock for both of you. You have only had her a week or less and who knows what the first 4 years of her life have been like. There's all sorts of ways to tackle pulling from reward based training to head collars and no pull harnesses - some things work better for some dogs than others. It sounds like she could do with that energy channelling into something that will work her brain. A dog running round like a lunatic is just going to result in a super fit lunatic, rather than a calm and tired dog. If she'll come when called, how about practising some basic commands in the middle of the field? See if you can find a local dog training club and if they do Agility too, all the better as she'll probably love it.

Also contact the RSPCA and let them know that you don't want to bring her back, but would appreciate some advice on how to deal with her pulling. They may have a behaviourist who can help. Good luck and don't give up on her yet.

hiya tingalay,

i have a pulling issue with my two youngest lab. I find the bast way to stop the pulling is by make him unsure of whats going to happen next. Its not perfect for roadside walking, because you need a bit of room, but it definitely works.

before the pull starts and the lead goes tight, change the direction in which you're walking. Make the change of direction different each time. Sometimes i might simply turn around and walk back the way i was going, next time i might turn right, then left, right again etc. Works a treat with mine, although its not always the case when walking him with his big sister!

if walking by a road, i simply walk backwards, then forwards as soon as the lead loosens. As soon as it gpes tight again, i repeat it. Its time consuming, and can make a 15 minute walk turn into 40 minutes, but its worth it....

I would revert back to basic heelwork as you would train a new pup if hopefully she is treat orientated (sausages are best) or a ball or favorite toy practice holding the treat right under her nose saying the command you use I use "heel" or "close" walk up and down the garden turning left and right and then a nice sit then treat .
When I am out with my older girl who is now 2y3m I still hold my hand near my hip she has no idea whether I have a treat or not but she wont take that chance and she walks to heel occasionally looking at my hand to see if anything is on offer that way she is consentrating on me rather than pulling me along the road.
If she gets excited at anything she sees I use the command "look"  then she looks at my face and the consentration is back.
Put her in a nice sit and hold a treat next to your eye saying "Look" or "watch" have her look at the treat then treat and repeat ...they pick this up very quickly when your feel confident and she is loosing consentration say "LOOK" and put you hand up to your face then occasionally treat eventually you dont need the treat it enables you to get her consentration back on you.
while out on walks I talk to her "good girl"  "heel" and occasional treat .
Practice is the key 5 mins in the garden or short walks up and down the road .
I understand that it must be extremely hard with an adult as other posts have said more mental stimulation will tire her out quicker than running free I would do more road walking with her for practice.

HTH
~Roni

dont teach heel so soon , teach her loose leash walking meaning infront is fine unless shes pulling. Give the leash a firm tug everytime she lunges forward and give the command easy , nice , close , whatever. Keep it up even if you look like a maniac , it may take a few walks for her to realize lunging and dragging is bad but she'll get it. Treat her everytime the leash is loose. Maybe she's dragging out of fear (loud noises , traffic), when cars come by does she seem more jumpy?

drop the extendable leash for the time being , i don't find it a very good training tool. Get a 4-6 foot nylon/leash leash it'll be much better. Good Luck!

I must admit I hate those leads as well.

Use a stop pull harness (see www.kumfi.com) or similar for everyday, A to B walking when you literally have no time to train, and each day train the loose lead walking with plenty of rewards. Clicker training can help. I agree firstly you need to get your dog focused on you, so it may be easier to train a Watch command before anything else.

Good luck
Lindsay
x

please dont use an extendable lead
on the road its dangerous

Hi Tingalay
"Mind you, she is so hyper first thing that I find her very, very stressful.  She throws herself all over the place and just goes crackers"

Welcome to the wonderful world of springers :D  This is a well known trait for this breed and I have never had one that *didn't* greet me, other members of the family in this way - it didn't matter if you had only been upstairs for five minutes, when you came down they greeted us like long lost relatives ! (in fact Boxers are very similar - and we now have a boxer plus a springer cross so we get LOTS of 'wow, where have you been, missed you so much' greetings everytime we come home, get up in the morning......)  You can calm it down by ignoring her for a few minutes, getting her to sit and then reward her with a good sit, treat and a fuss (springers love their ears being fluffed)

As for walking on the lead, they can take a bit longer to sort out as they are so excited about everything.  It does sound like this springer was probably never put on the lead for a proper walk - it's good that she has a good recall though, which is a start :)

I would go right back to the beginning with her (never to old to learn and in fact 4 years for a springer is still young as they don't actually start calming down until around this age), stop using the extendable lead as they are not good for teaching as neither you nor the dog can feel what's happening at either end of the lead as well as if it is a good solid nylon lead.  Teach her a good watch me command - this can be done in the home / garden with plenty of rewards when she does it and doesn't break contact, (don't reward her if she looks away first) put her on her lead in the house and simply walk around the house with her using different speeds and re-inforcing the 'watch me' command - this way you will also break the 'excitement' factor that she has developed with the lead i.e lead = walks = WAHOO !  When it is walk time, don't make a big fuss, simply put on her lead, make her wait for you to go through the door first, then start your walk, getting her to watch you. When she pulls, stop in your tracks call her name and whilst walking backwards say 'come' When you have walked backwards for a few steps with her following you - 'good come' in a hapy voice (not too excited a sounding voice !) reward her, get her to sit on your left side, 'good sit' followed by a reward, then start your walk again, using your left leg first to re-inforce that she walks with you, say 'heel' - then start all over again, she pulls, you walk backwards.....  Consistency is the key, keep doing this, plus lead training in doors, and she will get the message and you will have a happy dog because she knows what she is supposed to be doing.  As with all training it can be two steps forward and one step back, some days she will seem like she has cracked it whilst others she is a mad springer again - don't get cross, anxious, just keep on with the training and only make a fuss when she does it right.

She will get there, it may be a long process - she may surprise you and get it right by the end of the first week !

Hope this helps, springers are a law unto themselves but such loveable hunnies that when they look at you with those gorgeous spaniel eyes you can't help but melt and forgive them for anything (even though you are sporting a lovely bruise on your backside from being greeted just that little bit too energitically that morning)

Hi Boxer Mum and everyone else who responded.  Thank you for your excellent advice - I know it's early days, but better to get things sorted out now rather calling "Tilly, you cow, HEEEEEL" all round the lanes!  I've got a non-extendable lead but I'll get an additional very short lead so I don't have to wrap her webbing lead round my hand.  She really is a dear little dog and tries so hard to please - it's just the amount of joie de vive in her wriggly dog body!  When she lies on her back, I say "Tilly, high five!" and she waves her front legs about in the air! 

Hopefully, as Tilly starts responding to obedience training, her habit of "over-excited-nipping" will stop.  I think that if she is using her brain, it will sort out some of the problems that tearing around fields has caused.  Her recall really is excellent - makes such a difference.  I've only had dogs before, not bitches, and they just disappeared off until they were ready to come back.  To think, we almost got a Beagle!!!!  I've got a dog trainer coming round on Friday to train me to train Tilly - watch this space!!!!!

"When she lies on her back, I say "Tilly, high five!" "

LOL - my old Forrest (liver and white working springer) used to do this, we'd say "Fozzy high five" and he'd do one paw then the other :D  How I miss that, Boxer just hasn't quite grasped it yet although my springer cross knows his left paw from his right paw so that's a nice even compromise :)

Good luck with Friday, keep us posted - Tara x

Hi Tara.  Your Boxer already knows one trick - bet it looks just like Sid James, eh?  So your Boxer does impressions!  How cool is that?!?!?

LOL - we just looked at him and yep, Sid James looked back at us :D 

He also looks a bit like Walter Matthau (odd couple) when he's laying down - bless him :)

A dog with character!  LOL.  You'd be worried if Brad Pitt looked back at you!

Now you're giving me nightmares :D

well i dont know if im much help but
a dog harnes might do the trick .and small treats in your pocket treating him when hes close to you.

I agree that training is the best way to stop pulling, but in the meantime you might try a Halti headcollar to stop the pulling. :-)

>I've got a non-extendable lead but I'll get an additional very short lead so I don't have to wrap her webbing lead round my hand<

It's going to be quite hard for her to keep the lead loose if you do these exercises using a very short lead - sometimes you see dogs on very short leads that have just got into the habit of towing their owner along - dog pulls, owner pulls against the pulling, dog pulls harder etc etc.  The webbing lead that you already have might be better.

However, wrapping the lead around your hand gives some dogs a "Right, here we go, let's get towing" message - it sort of winds them up as they feel you get ready for a good pull!  If you are worried about not being able to hold her in traffic, it would help to use the harness Lindsay suggests or a head collar.

I understand that, for the moment, there may be an issue about cars whizzing past and just hanging on to her but until walking nicely on a lead is established through training elsewhere, it might be better if you could avoid this scenario altogether - the more she practises pulling against the short lead, the harder it will be to change her habit.

Good luck with the training.

Hi.  Again, thanks for all the assistance.  I need to reassure all of you that although I have an extendable lead I use, this is not let out until we are in the country lanes behind our house or at the start of the area where Tilly is to be left off.  When we walk on the roads, the lead is locked into it's shortest length and held on the webbing.  Tilly wants to run left and right and dart across the road to new and exciting smells, so I have to keep it very short.  I think she was beaten in her last home because if I push her onto the verge with my leg, she drops and cowers.  I tried walking her round with a sausage in my hand, last night, in the garden, but it's not working because, again, smells, smells everywhere - neighbours cats, squirrels, foxes... she constantly looks for me as she rushes round but she's on a mission and tidbits aren't working just yet.  I will see what the dog trainer says tomorrow afternoon about getting and retaining her attention and let you know if Tilly responds.  Can't see it myself, but fingers crossed!  I refuse to use a head collar - dogs don't like them and, as their noses are so sensitive, I don't want an unhappy dog walking to heel because it's frightened or uncomfortable.  I've had horses - head collars are fine for them. For any other horse riders out there, you will know what I mean when I say I think it is a "false aid" for dogs.  Took a man to task yesterday for having one of those electric shock collars on his dog (he had only walked him on paths, on the lead, to the local shop).  Can you believe that a dog training establishment near me uses them for every "problem dog"? I realise I might now have opened up a can of worms but I believe you get the best from any animal by using love and respect (and outwitting the buggers).

Hi - the problem with extendable leads, as regards pulling on the lead, is that they actually TEACH the dog to pull.

By this I mean - they are always taut, and the dog learns that if it wants to go further, it just pulls more on that tautness and the lead extends, and hey presto, the dog is rewarded for pulling.  It then keeps trying in future - to lean into and pull the lead more to get further.

So, especially if you have a pulling problem, I'd advise you to ditch the extending lead.  If you really want to use a long lead, buy a long line or tracking lead - ie - one which doesn't retract.  You'll find that harder to manage around trees and obstacles and it will drag on the ground, but at least it won't teach the dog to pull.

Headcollars are not necessarily cruel to the dog.  By this I mean that many, many dogs don't mind them and accept wearing them.  Again, there are other dogs which behave as though they are an aversive, and I agree with you that for this small minority they might not be a good idea.  Also, they don't teach the dog not to pull - they teach the dog not to pull _while wearing a headcollar_, and when you take the headcollar off, the dog will likely start pulling again.  Some people don't mind this, but others want to solve the pulling in a more permanent way.

>they are always taut

Not when they are locked at the appropriate length :).  No sensible person is going to use an unlocked lead to teach heel walking they are for free running, albeit with a limit :).  When you want to do some heel work the lead can be locked, with my make at least, at any length to suit the dog and owner giving it the same function as any other fixed lead.

Phew, this thread has put my mind at rest a bit. Have a 12-week old working cocker/spaniel cross male pup and walks are an odd experience!! He is LOVELY when let off the lead in a nearby field, stays nearby, fetches balls, comes back when called etc, but trying to walk him on a lead is another matter. He's not horrible to be honest, just very excited and happily bounces all over the place, and when trying to get somewhere exciting he is distinctly "pully". At the moment what I'm trying to do is stop, or walk another way when he does it, but I'm not actually very sure he notices, he just changes direction with me and pulls in the other direction instead. None of the treats that work excellently when he's off the lead or in the house work when he's on the lead outside, he's just not particularly interested when there are so many much more exciting things around. Going to try some of the remedies suggested and see if they work with Sam;) It's nice to hear there might be breed-related reasons and not just us being completely incomptetent!